Taylor Swift Reveals She Has Security Due to Death Threats

In many ways, being Taylor Swift would be amazing: She's an incredibly talented, dedicated artist with a genuine kindness and generosity. And yeah, the multiple homes, impeccable fashion sense and incredibly successful career wouldn't hurt either. But then there's the dark side to her fame.

Taylor opened up about these pitfalls in a recent interview with Esquire, revealing that she can't even drive by herself without security following because of the countless crazies who have tried to come after her.

"I fought the idea of having security for a very long time, because I really value normalcy. I really do," she started. But the guards became necessary "because just the sheer number of men we have in a file who have showed up at my house, showed up at my mom's house, threatened to either kill me, kidnap me, or marry me," she explained.

"This is the strange and sad part of my life that I try not to think about," Taylor said. "I try to be lighthearted about it, because I don't ever want to be scared. I don't want to be walking down the street scared. And when I have security, I don't have to be scared."

Even with security, though, it can be tough to be in the public eye -- imagine not being able to leave your house if you were feeling anything other than cheerful enthusiasm and serious patience.

"I just have to wake up in the morning and say, 'How am I feeling today?' If someone asks for a picture, am I gonna feel imposed upon today because I'm dealing with my own stuff? Am I gonna take my own stuff out on some innocent 14-year-old today and be in a bad mood?" the 'Shake It Off' singer elaborated. "Okay, maybe not … Maybe I won't leave the house. I try really hard not to take bad days out on other people. Because I will get asked for an autograph, and I will get asked for a picture, and there will be someone with their cell phone filming me at a restaurant."

"If I'm not in the mood for that," she explained, "I just kind of stay in. And that's fine. Those days don't happen very often. I try really hard to keep it light. Joy, enthusiasm, excitement—those are sort of my chief attributes."

And speaking of joy, Taylor Swift just seems to radiate it -- especially around the holiday season.

"[Growing up on a Christmas tree farm] has cemented in me this unnatural level of excitement about fall and then the holiday season," she revealed. "My friends are so sick of me talking about autumn coming. They're like, 'What are you, an elf?'"